Sue Simon, Director, Human Rights
Sue joins the U.S. Human Rights Fund with 25 years of experience in public health and social justice fields. From 1999-2007, she worked at the Open Society Institute. Sue was the founding director of OSI's Sexual Health and Rights Project which supports advocacy, capacity building and service delivery related to HIV/AIDS for sex workers and LGBT communities in Southeast Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Her domestic work includes the Ombudsman's Office of Gay Men's Health Crisis, Planned Parenthood of New York City and serving as board chair of the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center. Most recently, Sue consulted for Wellspring Advisors and the Arcus Foundation. She holds a masters degree in public administration from Columbia University.
Sue can be reached by email at: ssimon[at]publicinterestprojects.org
Deji Olukotun, Program Officer
Deji Olukotun has worked in human rights in the U.S., South Africa, Brazil, and Europe. After working briefly for the corporate law firm Latham & Watkins, he won a Rotary Fellowship to research transitional justice systems in Cape Town, South Africa. He then worked for the University of Cape Town Refugee Rights project as a legal counselor. This work blossomed into the Sustained Advocacy for Empowered Refugees initiative (SAFER), an empowerment project that trained refugee leaders in rights advocacy. Deji's other advocacy has included stints at the Navajo Nation Supreme Court (Arizona), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Drug Policy Alliance (Oakland), and La Raza Centro Legal (San Francisco). A published fiction writer, Deji is strongly interested in creativity and activism. He holds a BA from Yale University, a JD from Stanford Law School, and masters degrees in conflict resolution and creative writing from the University of Cape Town. His bar admissions include New York, New Jersey, and California. Nigerian-American by descent, he speaks French and Portuguese and is a passionate soccer fan.
Deji can be reached by email at: deji[at]publicinterestprojects.org
Justin Restauri, Program Associate
Justin graduated from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study with a B.A. in Individualized Study, concentrating in Globalization, Immigration, and Community Organizing. Before joining the Fund, Justin worked as an organizer at the United Steelworkers Union and as a research assistant at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. Justin was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, but now calls New York home.
Justin can be reached by email at: jrestauri[at]publicinterestprojects.org
Angela Kahres, Program Assistant
Angela comes to PIP by way of The Picower Foundation, where she served as Grants Assistant. She graduated magna cum laude with Departmental Honors in English from Wagner College, where her activities included founding a club focused on encouraging interfaith dialogue on campus and collaboratively developing a course involving travel to Israel for students to gain hands-on understanding about the tension and conflicts in the area. She also traveled to Bangladesh, where she worked with classmates to collect water samples from rural villages affected by arsenic contamination of drinking wells.
Angela can be reached via email at akahres[at]publicinterestprojects.org
Kerri Greenaway, Graduate Intern
Kerri is currently a graduate student at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, where she is focusing on Social Enterprise Administration and International Welfare. She graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, WA. While at PLU Kerri developed a tutoring and mentoring program for Somali Bantu refugee students and directed the program for 2 ½ years before moving to New York. Kerri also spent the last year working as the “City As Parish Intern” at Peace Community Center and Peace Lutheran Church in Tacoma. Kerri grew up near a rural town in the eastern part of Washington state and is now enjoying exploring her new, New York neighborhood.
Kerri can be reached at kgreenaway[at]publicinterestprojects.org